The present invention relates to a solderless electrical connection, and particularly to a slotted plate terminal for stranded wire which may be converted to a spade terminal.
Slotted plate terminations which displace insulation from insulated solid core or twisted strand conductor are now well established in the art. The main advantage of such connectors is that they may be terminated by a relatively simple wire insertion operation, avoiding soldering, crimping, or providing a mating terminal on the wire being terminated. It has been found, however, that slotted plate terminations for solid core wire are not equally suitable for stranded wire. This is because it is generally desirable for the beams, that is, the contact members which bear on the wire, to do so resiliently. This maintains contact integrity during the life of the termination quite effectively for solid core wire. In stranded wire, however, the strands tend to fall into a line under the bearing force of the beams, and contact integrity is lost unless special design features are present.
When wires are inserted into terminals of a slotted plate connector, considerable forces are imposed on the terminal by reason of fact that the insulation is being displaced, and the conductor is being forced into a generally undersized slot. These forces may be counteracted by design features of a housing where the terminal cooperates with a housing thereon, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,158. A free standing terminal, by reason of its lack of housing support, generally cannot be terminated as effectively without the use of special tooling, and is not readily repairable since the original slot geometry cannot usually be recovered.
In some applications, such as where terminals are not in a closely spaced environment and ready access for repair is desirable, individual housings are not economically practicable. Consider, for example, a home appliance such as a dishwasher. A cheap factory termination not requiring a housing which would be readily repairable by a field serviceman would be most desirable.